Introducing the uScript Visual Scripting Tool for Unity!

Update - The beta sale of 50% off will be ending soon! Now is the best time to buy uScript Professional before the beta period ends and the price increases!

Hello everyone,

We would like to announce our upcoming visual programming tool for Unity 3. It is called the uScript Visual Scripting Tool and was developed by us at Detox Studios. We are a group of game industry veterans who have really taken to Unity and ended up creating something very cool and powerful.

uScript has been under development for the past 8 months, but we are now at a point that we can share it with you all. We hope to have a free open beta in the near future for you all to use and provide us feedback.

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uScript's main goal is in being easy to use and understand at a glance so that you can focus on making great games. It has been designed from the ground up to feel very similar to Kismet for Unreal (UDK), but goes far beyond what Kismet can do. For more information on uScript, please watch our introduction video on YouTube and visit our website.

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Feature Overview
The uScript Visual Scripting Tool allows non-technical developers to dive right into scripting complicated setups without needing to write a single line of code. uScript can be used for anything from rapid prototyping gameplay ideas to final complicated setups ready to ship in your final product.

Here is a list of highlights for just some of the many features and benefits uScript provides:

Simple to Setup – Just install the uScript Unity Package into your project, launch the uScript editor, and start creating!

Be Creative – Focus on being creative. Empower yourself or entire teams of designers and artists to experiment and directly bring their visions to life!

User Friendly – Easy to read visual scripting makes reading your visual script logic simple for everyone. Plenty of help through documentation, video tutorials, examples, full undo support, node search and filtering, support forums and more to help you on your way!

Integrated - Integrates with your current Unity projects and C# scripts easily through reflection! Will work on all supported Unity platforms. Same great tool for both Unity Indie Unity Pro.

Powerful – Harness the full power of Unity and C# programming without ever having to look at, or understand, a single line of programming code!

Extensible – Create your own nodes to expand uScript in anyway you can imagine!

Community – Take part in a community of uScript users and share the benefits of sharing uScript files, download new nodes (or share your own), change the look through custom skins, extended documentation, tutorials, and more!

Secret Stuff – This is just a glimpse at some of the things the uScript Visual Scripting Tool can do. Many more features will be revealed soon...

Please watch this forum thread for updated information and also feel free to ask any questions you may have about uScript. You can alsofollow us on Twitter or join our Facebook page to stay up to date on uScript news as it unfolds.

-- Your friends at Detox Studios

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Follow these links for updated information posted in this forum thread:

Guest

Dreamora: Right you are! We feel uScript will stand on its own. We made it very user friendly for non-technical people to use and understand and also took a fundamentally different approach under the hood as well (more on that later!). Besides, competition is always good for the the end user!

wadoman: Be sure to keep an eye out for the open beta so you can give uScript a try and tell us what you think.

WolfoX: As far as the UDK users go, that was definitely one of our goals. I used Kismet on a couple of games and it was a great iterative tool for the game designers to use. We have definitely taken that approach and ran with it!

It will. uScript will support all Unity supported platforms and will require no more overhead or performance loss than if you had just written C# code yourself to make your product. We'll be expanding on this aspect and why it makes us different a bit later.

Looks like the kind of thing that Vizio/Universe was supposed to be, before it got so complicated it forgot it place in the world and became too difficult and confusing for the very people who would have used it in the first place.

Looks like this one could be the one that compliments playMaker nicely too.

Right, as this is in development, I've going throw an idea out into the world. It would be awesome for the end-user to have uScripts "sync" with Actions in the Playmaker Actions directory. This would really tightly integrate the two products (a little bit how products from other companies can load each other's things).

Having this would not be my reason for buying this (as I'd want it for the Visual Editing more than anything) but NOT having this would be my reason for ignoring it (i.e. Playmaker comes first for our team, we are willing to sacrifice visual coding for the sake of it).

Well done! I agree with Frank Oz, it seems like you kept it "simple" so even artist can pick it up and create stuff within a couple of minutes, while Universe and Playmaker require a learning curve that is just a bit higher. This could make all the difference.

I worked with Kismet for over a year, I know it inside out, and realised that in some ( definitely not all!) the visual display of the mechanics provides a better and faster workflow and typing it out in script.

I personally am capable of working with Playmaker and Universe, but if the price will be about the same, and the results that can be gained are the same... Than I will take uScript into consideration.

When looking at the UDK, even though everything can be done within Unreal script. Smaller things get setup in Kismet all the time in my experience, a visual scripting tool for the smaller gameplay pieces or even animations is just very valuable. And if I am able to get that tool back into unity the same way UDK had to offer it, I will be happy

Thanks for the kind words guys. I've been a big fan of empowering designers and artists to be able to directly execute their vision with tools like uScript ever since I used my first visual scripting tool as a game designer years ago back on System Shock 2.

As I've mentioned before, ease of use was a key goal with uScript's architecture-- but definitely not at the expense of power and flexibility. It has been a massive effort on our part to walk that line.

I think the "Our Philosophy" section on our website's about page sums it up best!

(btw, this is my personal forum account since I mentioned my own history and not really speaking as Detox. Hello!)

Thanks for the kind words guys. I've been a big fan of empowering designers and artists to be able to directly execute their vision with tools like uScript ever since I used my first visual scripting tool as a game designer years ago back on System Shock 2.

As I've mentioned before, ease of use was a key goal with uScript's architecture-- but definitely not at the expense of power and flexibility. It has been a massive effort on our part to walk that line.

I think the "Our Philosophy" section on our website's about page sums it up best!

(btw, this is my personal forum account since I mentioned my own history and not really speaking as Detox. Hello!)

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If you make it work well with playMaker and not try to replace it, you'll make a lot of people very happy, and get quite a few extra sales I imagine, since playMaker is pretty popular around here as an FSM alone. So a nice general visual scripting system like yours which could compliment what playMaker already offers, would certainly find a place in my collection for sure!

I don't understand why someone would want a product like this one or Antares Universe not to integrate what Playmaker is doing ?
Ok if you already own Playmaker, but if a buy a product i want it to offer me the most features as possible so if you can do it go ahead.

I don't understand why someone would want a product like this one or Antares Universe not to integrate what Playmaker is doing ?
Ok if you already own Playmaker, but if a buy a product i want it to offer me the most features as possible so if you can do it go ahead.

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Well as this is visual scripting, you should be able to roll your own FSM obviously, and nothing should stop you from doing that. But if they intentionally put their own version in there to directly compete with playMaker, well yeah, not very sportsmanlike IMO, and few will want to buy both at that point, even though uScript offers more due to it's different nature. It came later, so taking playMaker users into account is pretty important.

playMaker is an FSM, not a full visual scripting system, and doesn't pretend to be anything else either, it's simple to use and powerful and should be seen as part of a toolbox, not a full solution. That's why it's popular, the very people it's aimed at, find it easy to get into. It was made by someone who understands that Artists, Musicians, Designers etc. see things differently to how Programmers see things. Anything that works well with it, is going to be popular with the same users who bought it. It just makes good business sense to offer the same users something extra, rather than trying to win them over when they're already happy with what they've got.

What I imagine is going to happen is it'll become uScript vs Universe, because those are both visual scripting systems of the same class. Whichever is a) cheaper b) integrates nicer with playMaker (so not to lose sales from those users) c) easier to use d) most stable. Is going to become the most popular.

Universe IS powerful, no question about it. I'd probably consider it the visual scripting equivalent of Maya. Unfortunately, the poor documentation, poor translation, lack of examples and tutorials, it's steep learning curve, and dare I say it, the air of superiority the developers have (which might just be a translation thing), puts it out of reach from many of people it would be most useful to. Those with the experience and knowledge to use it to its full potential, will, by the looks of many threads on the subject of regular scripting vs visual scripting, more likely than not, prefer to stay with regular scripting. With is a shame because it's clear how much incredibly hard work went into Universe, and it IS a work of art really. But that is the path the developers decided to take, and if the devs on uScript are smart, they'll not make the same mistakes (hopefully, cause I really want an excuse to buy uScript haha).

Our documentation and tutorials for Antares Universe in progress. This is just a part of the working cicle, don't worry. We are work.
And, btw - right in current state, it is pritty easy to communicate with Playmaker within Universe. As and backward (if you'll write your own action for PM).

Don't want to hijack this thread but i have to respond to your arguments :
First of all, Playmaker is a great piece of software, no doubt about that, easy /friendly/powerful.

Well as this is visual scripting, you should be able to roll your own FSM obviously, and nothing should stop you from doing that...

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you're right, Universe already have FSM, what missing at that point is just the actions simplicity that Playmaker offers.
For example to change the color of a material you just have to throw the "Set Material Color" action in Playmaker, but in Universe you need to hook up three blocks : "this Get : renderer" + "Renderer Get : material" + "Material Set : Color".

But if they intentionally put their own version in there to directly compete with playMaker, well yeah, not very sportsmanlike IMO

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Sorry but i don't see what "sportsmanlike" has to do when you're developping a product you want to sell that is not just a rip-off of an already existing product. Playmaker has an audience, uScript will have one's too, if they make a brigde between their product and others great, if they can include features like FSM, I would prefer have this feature in the same product for a lot of reasons (support etc)

Universe IS powerful, no question about it. I'd probably consider it the visual scripting equivalent of Maya. Unfortunately, the poor documentation, poor translation, lack of examples and tutorials, it's steep learning curve, and dare I say it, the air of superiority the developers have (which might just be a translation thing), puts it out of reach from many of people it would be most useful to.

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I agree with you on the lack of documentation etc for Universe, but it's on beta you know, we'll see how it grows and on that point uScript team seems to know how to have a good communication, their introduction video goes to the point and is well done.
About "the air of superiority the developers have", are you serious ? And even if you say that you think that is a translation thing, come on man, with your number of posts you should really know that Neodrop contribution to the Unity community is GREAT, he 's always willing to help others where he can do it.

Don't want to hijack this thread but i have to respond to your arguments :
First of all, Playmaker is a great piece of software, no doubt about that, easy /friendly/powerful.

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you're right, Universe already have FSM, what missing at that point is just the actions simplicity that Playmaker offers.
For example to change the color of a material you just have to throw the "Set Material Color" action in Playmaker, but in Universe you need to hook up three blocks : "this Get : renderer" + "Renderer Get : material" + "Material Set : Color".

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Agreed, that's what I'm hoping uScript will correct, and where I think Universe clearly failed. As I say, the type of people who can use Universe properly, are going to be pretty handy with regular scripting, and be able in most cases to do the same thing quicker their way, than through a node based system.

Sorry but i don't see what "sportsmanlike" has to do when you're developping a product you want to sell that is not just a rip-off of an already existing product. Playmaker has an audience, uScript will have one's too, if they make a brigde between their product and others great, if they can include features like FSM, I would prefer have this feature in the same product for a lot of reasons (support etc)

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Perhaps sportsmanlike was the wrong choice of words then, my bad. Though at no point did I call anything a rip-off, your bad.

Basically it comes down to understanding the users. The majority who use Unity, don't have large budgets, so it's often a case of one or the other and rarely both. uScript (and Universe) are both going to be competing with each other AND with the growing playMaker userbase which had a head start. Now it's clear that a LOT of users here have difficulty buying anything over a few dollars, you just have to see the fiasco that is the asset store, and the many threads on that subject. So if uScript ends up being too close to playMaker, a lot of people wont buy it if setting up FSM's can do most of what they'll need. But if it works well -with- it, extends the usability, and offers more on top, AND remains simple to use, well then it becomes a very tempting purchase. You have to remember that many playMaker users are very happy with it, and don't feel they need another. Don't forget, a lot of people these are aimed at, aren't otherwise going to be doing super complex things, and playMaker can handle quite a lot before the need for real scripting rears it's head.

SSE vs ShaderFusion is a good example. Both do the same thing, both practically look the same (though I admit ShaderFusion does seem more polished visually), both can do some pretty advanced stuff. However SSE has better support, and it's free. Few people seem to be using ShaderFusion, or at least they seem very quiet about it, and even fewer will consider it when there's a free version that does the very same thing. Does it mean ShaderFusion is bad? Not at all, it's actually very good. But it doesn't offer anything SSE doesn't have (and if it does, it should be advertised more, to give it the edge), nothing to warrant the cost of it.

I agree with you on the lack of documentation etc for Universe, but it's on beta you know, we'll see how it grows and on that point uScript team seems to know how to have a good communication, their introduction video goes to the point and is well done.
About "the air of superiority the developers have", are you serious ? And even if you say that you think that is a translation thing, come on man, with your number of posts you should really know that Neodrop contribution to the Unity community is GREAT, he 's always willing to help others where he can do it.

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That's why I gave them the benefit of the doubt with the translation thing, aware that certain things can sound one way, and then come across differently to a different culture. That just happens to be how it comes across to me. Just as I'm sure I come across as a dickhead in 99.9% of my posts.. lol.

I'm not sure in big playmaker user base. (Really, without any bad thinks)
Our project much older and had a lot friends already, even nobody knew about PM.
This talking about "many peoples who want" is just a private opinion, (I want to offend nobody it's just my conclusions).

Yes, new one player (uScript) looks good in video, but, as I see, is in the middle of working process.
And I say : welcome. Undoubtedly, the competition is good for end-users.

Nice project - thumbs up !!! We will try it as soon beta period starts. Now we are in the production of a hidden object with adventure game game with Unity and Sprite Manager 2 - maybe UScript can boost our production with visual scripting.

Wow, wow, wow!!! Another one joins the ring...I like that the Asset Store is making these extension tools rear their heads...Good going Unity Team!! Anyways, first I was interested in Universe, but read it has a steep learning curve, but Playmaker shows up. Now I'm hearing that Playmaker is not a real visual scripting tool, and now uScript is here. Price this competively (lower) and you will have my money in an instant. I only develop for mobiles so I hope this has touch events and such when launched

Universe still lacks docs, samples and a large amount of High Level blocks (for artists not to get mad), that's true - and that's my fault.
People can help the team behind Universe by requesting specific topics for tutorials, examples and Smart Blocks - good ideas are appreciated very much (http://forum.antares-universe.com/).

It's true that English is not the language we speak natively, so there can be some mistakes .

I am sorry for hijacking the thread!

Kismet-clone is a nice idea, I especially like the designer's work behind it.
Competition is good!

I love the idea behind this, and whilst it won't stop me learning to code Unity, it will, perhaps, save me a lot of time in very repetetive things that are quicker this way. Maybe I am a sceptic, but I feel sure that some things will be so unique for a game that it will still require specific scripts and that's why I am still beating myself about the head to try and learn to code.

I was interested by your comments about integration with other packages in C# in the video and am currently a big user of EZGui and the Ultimate Unity Networking package.

I would be very interested to hear whether you think that integration with other add-ons such as this will be able to be accomplished with your product as that will be important for me.

Regards and great news (for me at any rate) and will be signing up for beta and purchase as soon as available.

Moria: we will be sharing more information regarding this topic in the near future. We also hope to work with as many tool providers as we can (including playMaker Frank Oz!). We know everyone works differently and has preferred tools and pipelines they enjoy-- we are working hard to make uScript a part of your workflow.

I am sure uScript will have overlap with other tool's features and do many things itself (like network communication), but we won't exclude on any chance to make uScript work with other tools! Also, let's not forget we hope to build an active community around uScript at uScript.net once beta begins, so hopefully many savvy users will also be a part in helping to support custom or niche needs along with us.

Agreed, that's what I'm hoping uScript will correct, and where I think Universe clearly failed. As I say, the type of people who can use Universe properly, are going to be pretty handy with regular scripting, and be able in most cases to do the same thing quicker their way, than through a node based system.

Perhaps sportsmanlike was the wrong choice of words then, my bad. Though at no point did I call anything a rip-off, your bad.

Basically it comes down to understanding the users. The majority who use Unity, don't have large budgets, so it's often a case of one or the other and rarely both. uScript (and Universe) are both going to be competing with each other AND with the growing playMaker userbase which had a head start. Now it's clear that a LOT of users here have difficulty buying anything over a few dollars, you just have to see the fiasco that is the asset store, and the many threads on that subject. So if uScript ends up being too close to playMaker, a lot of people wont buy it if setting up FSM's can do most of what they'll need. But if it works well -with- it, extends the usability, and offers more on top, AND remains simple to use, well then it becomes a very tempting purchase. You have to remember that many playMaker users are very happy with it, and don't feel they need another. Don't forget, a lot of people these are aimed at, aren't otherwise going to be doing super complex things, and playMaker can handle quite a lot before the need for real scripting rears it's head.

SSE vs ShaderFusion is a good example. Both do the same thing, both practically look the same (though I admit ShaderFusion does seem more polished visually), both can do some pretty advanced stuff. However SSE has better support, and it's free. Few people seem to be using ShaderFusion, or at least they seem very quiet about it, and even fewer will consider it when there's a free version that does the very same thing. Does it mean ShaderFusion is bad? Not at all, it's actually very good. But it doesn't offer anything SSE doesn't have (and if it does, it should be advertised more, to give it the edge), nothing to warrant the cost of it.

That's why I gave them the benefit of the doubt with the translation thing, aware that certain things can sound one way, and then come across differently to a different culture. That just happens to be how it comes across to me. Just as I'm sure I come across as a dickhead in 99.9% of my posts.. lol.

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Frank, looking at your comments makes me think you are speaking in the name of the community. How are you so sure that uScript must be integrated with PlayMaker or it will fail? How did you know that PlayMaker is popular here? It have been only few weeks from it launch. Where did you get those numbers? I'm just curious, you seem to know more than their developers.

Frank, looking at your comments makes me think you are speaking in the name of the community. How are you so sure that uScript must be integrated with PlayMaker or it will fail? How did you know that PlayMaker is popular here? It have been only few weeks from it launch. Where did you get those numbers? I'm just curious, you seem to know more than their developers.

Guest

Our documentation and tutorials for Antares Universe in progress. This is just a part of the working cicle, don't worry. We are work.
And, btw - right in current state, it is pritty easy to communicate with Playmaker within Universe. As and backward (if you'll write your own action for PM).

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Actually I've done that.
Not fully stuff, but communication with PlayMaker's variables, machine states and active stuff in a FSM to know whats going in the PlaMaker's FSM within Antares.

yea i agree with you like it or not with tools like this the game industry is entering a new era of game development ..this time reaching out to anyone..does anyone know when the beta is coming out?..i love playmaker but ill try to be patient and try this first before i buy..(looks very promising)

Guest

Quick question!What tools/scripts/other would you like to see work closely with the uScript Visual Scripting Tool?

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A dedicated system to manage character's animations and @animationClips, cinematic controls, ragdolls automation, etc.
You guys could implement Havok Behavior like stuff or something alike, if possible.

I'm impressed with the introduction tutorial. It makes sense and intuitive. I hope that you will open beta test very soon. I will give uScript and Universe to my team (mainly for artists) for testing and ask them which one that they like better.

What tools/scripts/other would you like to see work closely with the uScript Visual Scripting Tool?

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SpriteManager from Brady. It will be extremely useful if it has a block to easily create GUI and also a block to detect various inputs such as keyboard, mouse, touch on iphone or android etc. And please develop your tool so that it can be used with Unity basic version too.